Miami Beach commissioners pressed staff for faster, independent action on long-standing water-quality problems in the North Beach Parkview Canal area, instructing the administration to pursue weekly city testing, retain an independent engineering/environmental consultant to analyze Pump Station 23 and publish results promptly.

Chief Resilience Officer Amy Knowles and Public Works Director John Norris briefed the commission on ongoing work. Staff reported that relining and cleanout work at Biscayne Beach Elementary is nearly complete: contractors have installed 13 cleanouts (characterized by staff as 100% complete), completed four point repairs (excavation/repair of breaks), and lined about 700 linear feet out of roughly 1,290 linear feet of piping on the property; remaining lining work was expected to finish the coming weekend, weather permitting.

Staff said they have engaged Hazen and Sawyer (the city’s continuing-services consultant that previously reviewed the pump station in 2018) to perform a comprehensive review of Pump Station 23, its wet well and the connected force and gravity mains. Commissioners — concerned about independence and potential impacts to local groundwater — asked for a fresh, independent third-party review from a firm that had not previously worked on the station. Commissioners and staff discussed timeline: administration representatives estimated the city could procure and have a proposal from an independent firm within roughly two weeks and begin work after the scope is set.

Commissioners directed staff to pursue weekly water testing in the Parkview Canal area and to publish the measurements. Staff said the city currently conducts monthly stormwater sampling as background monitoring and that year-to-date the city’s average for enterococci was approximately 268 MPN (most probable number units) — the transcript included an exchange noting that the Florida Department of Health beach standard is 70 MPN but that canal standards are not codified. Dr. Sola Gabriela (academic consultant referenced by staff) was mentioned as an expert the city intends to use for an intensive spring/summer sampling program, with student support to reduce cost.

Public commenters, including Omar Jimenez of the Parkview Auto and Sustainable Association and resident Larry Schafer, urged quicker action and noted large disparities between the city’s monthly results and volunteer testing from the Surfrider Foundation; Omar cited a Surfrider reading of 24,000 MPN in a recent week. Residents also urged inspection of private outfalls and the canal shoreline and asked the county and relevant agencies to assist.

Staff said additional mitigation steps are underway: they recently kicked off a UV-disinfection pilot, have increased stormwater system cleaning, and plan to deploy “downstream defender” devices at outfalls (seven devices ordered, estimated in-stall in first quarter next year) to capture litter and floatables. The commission and staff also discussed dredging: modeling presented to staff suggests dredging alone is unlikely to restore the flushing needed to reach target water-quality outcomes, and staff estimated a dredging project in the canal could cost roughly $2 million and would be disruptive; commissioners nonetheless asked staff to continue exploring dredging combined with other measures.

The commission asked staff to return with weekly published sampling data, a plan and schedule for retaining an independent reviewer of Pump Station 23 that has not previously worked on the pump station, and regular updates to Operation Clean Water. The item will remain on the commission’s recurring agenda.